TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Read: Mark 4:1-34
Listen: Mark 4
TODAY’S MESSAGE
We see three main characters in our story—Jesus, the crowd and his followers. You probably circled these characters on pages 37-38 in your journal. So many people want to be healed and traveled great distances to find Jesus. When they reach him, Jesus teaches the crowd using parables. Parables are simple stories meant to illustrate a spiritual or moral point.
But not everyone understands the parable. What’s more, Jesus doesn’t necessarily want it to be easy for everyone to hear and understand. Instead, he uses the parable to sift out those who want something (like healing or leading a political revolt) from those who want to learn, listen and respond. Those who want something from him simply miss the point.
As we read this story, the same choices are on the table for us. It’s easy to follow Jesus just to get things from him. But his desire is for us to listen to his words and respond.
Let’s be like his disciples this week as we study Mark 4. Throughout the week, we will learn how to grow in our relationship with Jesus as we see that we have a job to do, and God has a job to do. Our job is to listen and respond; his job is to produce the fruit.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Let’s begin our week by memorizing Mark 4:9. In this verse, Jesus calls for all who have ears to hear. Use this call of Jesus to draw out a humble listening posture this week as we study Mark 4. Finally, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to circle the characters in your journal today.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
